Henrique – a rookie of the year nominee in 2011-12 – has been recovering from thumb surgery, which he underwent in November.

The 22-year-old finished fourth in team scoring last season, with 51 points in 74 games. He was also a key player on New Jersey’s top-ranked penalty kill.

Henrique will apparently be eased back into action, starting tonight on the Devils’ fourth line with Krys Barch and Matt Anderson.

“We discussed things today and came to the conclusion this is the best way to do things because there are no practices for a couple of weeks for us,” said Henrique, per the Star-Ledger. “The coach will control my minutes and I’ll be on the fourth line.”

Tonight will also mark the season debut of defenseman Adam Larsson. The 20-year-old has been a healthy scratch the first five games, but will play against the Islanders in place of injured Mark Fayne (arm).

henrique got absolutely robbed of the Calder trophy, they say playoffs don’t count but even so he was a first line center his first year in the NHL and the only rookie finalist in the playoffs. That to me says more than who scored more goals while still losing more games.

Robbed is a strong word. He’s not nearly the dynamic player Nugent-Hopkins is. I love Henrique we’ll see how well he does without Parise. Zajac’s numbers dropped hard after Parise missed that season with the lower body injury.

Parise and Henrique were on separate lines for most of the 2nd half, and almost the entire playoff run. He’ll be fine without Parise. Zajac might need someone to step up. People said the same thing about Parise when Langenbrunner left. These guys are professional athletes. They’ll adapt if they are good.